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Environmental Hazards
Many environmental hazards make the Equestian Wasteland a contaminated landscape, poisoned by the many spells and projects that struck Equestria during the Great War. Common Balefire radiation Killing Joke Killing Joke, normally only found in the Everfree Forest, is a generally lethal, poisonous plant that is able to cause instant transformation in those that touch it. Directly descended from Poison Joke and similar to its ancestor in many respects, this corrupted version still plays ironic jokes on those that come in contact with it. However, these jokes are lethally dangerous, as opposed to the (relatively) harmless tricks of Poison Joke. It almost always bases its effects on the fears, distresses, and distastes of its victims, and it is very likely to act upon the smallest of off-hand comments, no matter how long ago or how insignificant the comment seemed, so long as said comment involves something of great distress to the victim. Killing Joke is a vine-like plant that maintains its blue coloration making it easy to distinguish but it is able to move and burrow fairly quickly in order to reach victims, actually employing traps to bring creatures into range while remaining hidden. Killing Joke has only one known competitor - a plant called Phantasmal Flower. Both plants feed on psychic energy but the flower is able to choke out Killing Joke like a weed, preventing it from spreading into areas where the flower is present. The flower is not harmful to other creatures. A cure exists for the curse of the Killing Joke and can be administered to anyone who has survived its effects. After the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, the killing joke is used as an ingredient in a potion which allows some alicorns to turn male and be able to procreate. Known Victims ;Jokeblue's Mother :Jokeblue's mother was afflicted with the curse of the Killing Joke, and later died while giving birth to Jokeblue, who was named after the plant. ;Xenith :Xenith's stripes were turned into gaping wounds, based on an offhand comment where she mentioned that she felt like an earth pony whose stripes were great wounds. ;Fluttershy :Prior to the war, Fluttershy once stated that she would "like to be a tree". Very soon after the Last Day, after Rarity teleported her to Zecora's Hut, she encountered some form of Killing Joke in a grove and was transformed into a large tree, a form she has existed in for two centuries after the war's passing, up until the end of the Wasteland Conflict where a cure was found by Velvet Remedy and she was restored to her original form. ;Unnamed Hellhound :One hellhound was caught in the Killing Joke's trap, turned into a pony, and was likely slain by its fellow hellhounds. It is very likely that this hellhound, like many other hellhounds, felt a strong sense of animosity towards pony-kind. ;Gutshot :Always being second best shooter was very frustrating for him and he, probably, once jealously wished to be just like the best markspony, his brother, Calamity. Since Gutshot & fellow Wonderbolts were hunting for Calamity and his friends, it put him at risk of being killed by his companions or the Enclave. ;Regina Grimfeathers :Regina made a statement regarding her recently deceased brother. "It should be Kage here, not me." The killing joke, caused a gaping wound to open up in her breast, just like the one that killed her brother. Taint Taint, originally named the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion (or I.M.P.), is a viscous, rainbow-colored liquid designed by the Ministry of Arcane Sciences under the direction of Twilight Sparkle. It is a mutagenic agent, and was originally designed for transforming unicorns into more powerful alicorns. Its transforming capabilities require a very careful dosage, and the process of its formulation is extremely delicate and demanding, leading to many flawed batches being discarded. For this reason, indiscriminate contamination (especially if mixed with radiation exposure) is more likely to produce deformed monsters, as it has already happened for several species around the Wasteland, such as bloatsprites, floaters, hellhounds, and the hospital horrors. Taint is not shielded by air filters, and professional medical care is required to purge it from one's body after exposure. Any effects and mutations that have already taken place, however, are not easily reversible with post-Apocalyptic medical procedures. Barrels of discarded taint often bear a yellow diamond-shaped label with dark purple warning symbols and the following text: Canterlot Canterlot is a distinct case in the Equestrian Wasteland due to the fact that it was never attacked by a traditional Balefire Bomb, but rather by a bomb that released the pink cloud upon detonation. Pink Cloud Pink Cloud is an entropic, necromantic, pink-hued gas that was originally released by bombs deployed by the zebra empire induring the Great War to strike Canterlot and eliminate the two Princesses, Celestia and Luna. It has a deadly effect on living beings, seeping into flesh and lungs, rotting it and melting it, and potentially liquefying bodies into heaps of organic matter. Even slight exposure can lead to severe complications, including organ failure and the permanent fusing of skin to objects in close contact, including clothes, PipBucks, jewelry, and even the ground or a chair if a victim remains still for an extended duration of exposure. It is almost always lethal, though in rare instances a victim can be turned into a particular variant of ghoul known as a Canterlot Ghoul. Protections The Pink Cloud effects on contact with skin, and, much like Taint, cannot be filtered by re-breathers, gas masks or any other sort of air filter. Damage from Pink Cloud poisoning can be healed by way of normal healing potions. Water absorbs the gas extremely well, and as such, rain is able to purify the air of a short period of time, while creating deadly pools of poisonous water. Pink Cloud does not diffuse into water normally, but instead will form rivulets or ribbons of the substance that are pink in color. Environmental Effects The Pink Cloud has been slowly absorbed by inorganic matter--buildings, furniture, the earth itself--and is being slowly released into the air, causing Canterlot and several nearby cities (such as Zebratown) to still be severely hazardous despite the length of time since the gas release. Stables that have endured long-term exposure to the pink cloud were eventually breached due to corrosion. Pink Cloud also tends to concentrate in closed spaces where it does not get dispersed by the natural environment; such pockets are much more deadly than the open air due to density, making the cloud even more lethal than usual. Sources The largest continued source of Pink Cloud in Canterlot was a dragon that served as Canterlot's royal treasury guardian and a source of the dragon hatchlings that were gifted to the students of Celestia's school (including Twilight Sparkle's assistant, Spike). When the dragon was exposed to the Pink Cloud, she began to produce it through her snores, preventing it from ever dissipating so long as she lived. During the Wasteland Conflict, an insane alicorn residing in Canterlot Castle managed to cast a remote activated spell that would turn the dragon into something smaller, significantly lessening the amount of Pink Cloud created. Littlepip later activated this remote spell, which was tied into the fireworks switch for the Grand Galloping Gala inside Luna's bedroom in Canterlot Castle. The spell turned the dragon into a mouse, who later accompanied a Canterlot Ghoul named Lionheart in battle against the Grand Pegasus Enclave during Operation: Cauterize. Broadcasters The pink cloud is also the responsible of the necromantic broadcasters phenomena: Inside the pink cloud's area of effect, Sprite-bot and PipBuck broadcasting signals have been weakened and corrupted, to the point where their signals has now a necromantic component and are able to kill a living creature entering its sphere of effect in mere seconds. Notable symptoms from exposure are severe headaches and bleeding eyes. Other Hazardous Locales Whitetail Woods The Whitetail woods are notably much more poisonous and radioactive, than other parts of the Equestrian wasteland. This is due to a number of poisonous megaspell missiles that Princess Celestia personally shot out of the sky, upon Luna's death. Specific native wildlife if any in the region is unknown. Everfree Forest The Everfree Forest is home to a number of deadly hazards, besides the more famous threats like Killing Joke. Everfree also contains other deadly fauna, such as plantlife that can fire projectiles to kill aerial prey and a unique type of fungus that infects and consumes living organisms, making them extensions of itself. |} Notes and Trivia *Many of the environmental hazards featured in Fallout: Equestria were inspired by analogues in the Fallout universe. **Balefire radiation shares many of its properties with nuclear radiation. **Taint (or I.M.P.) is very similar to the Forced Evolutionary Virus (or F.E.V.) in that it causes similar mutations and was used in controlled experiments to create super-powered versions of its creator species: I.M.P turned ponies into alicorns, while F.E.V turned humans into super-mutants. **The Pink Cloud is inspired by the Cloud, a red-tinted vapor that fills the Sierra Madre Hotel and Casino. It only appears in Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money. **The Canterlot Broadcasters are also a reference to the broadcasters in the Sierra Madre that generate a frequency that will detonate the player's bomb collar. Category:Setting Category:Environmental Hazards